Telefonica’s plans to raise its stake in Telecom Italia could shake up South America’s telecommunications industry if competition regulators force the European phone companies to sell assets in Argentina and Brazil.

What isn’t clear at this early stage is whether that could bring new players into two of the region’s largest markets, or make space for existing competitors to beef up their roles.

Spain’s Telefonica said this week it would raise its stake in Telecom Italia’s largest shareholder, Telco, to 70% from 46%. Telco owns 22.4% of Telecom Italia. Both Argentine and Brazilian officials say the deal could breach antitrust laws in their countries, which combined accounted for almost 40% of Telecom Italia’s revenue last year.

In backing the sale of KPN’s German unit to Telefónica Deutschland, Mr. Slim’s América Móvil has pushed forward what could be the biggest shakeup the European telecommunications sector has seen for years.

Telefónica Deutschland — itself the German unit of Spain’s Telefónica – on Monday sweetened its offer for KPN’s German unit to €8.55 billion ($11.46 billion), securing the backing of América Móvil in the process.

The deal means KPN bags five billion euros in cash and a bigger than expected residual stake in Telefónica Deutschland. The cash may help make swallowing KPN more palatable to América Móvil shareholders while underscoring Mr. Slim’s negotiating skills.

The primal subconscious of the internet, as expressed above via Google’s most common search terms, has some largely negative questions to ask about so-called millennials, the generation born, depending on who is doing the defining, at some point after 1980.

Millennials in turn have their own critiques of past generations — in particular, the habit of some who lived through one of the most prosperous periods in history to call those whose adult lives have been an endless economic crisis lazy and entitled.